This invention relates generally to graphical user interfaces and web browsing.
The vast majority of computing devices today have a graphical user interface (“GUI”) built on the what you see is what you get (“WYSIWYG”) principle. Users have come to expect a high degree of interoperability between programs, even if they come from different sources and are designed to perform different functions.
Different programs and types of programs utilize different formats for similar objects and content, whether the graphically or alphanumerically. Therefore, the content of an object dragged and dropped from one type of program to another, or even between similar programs of different providers, is often not recognized and utilized by the receiving program. In other words, something dropped from a first page or program may not look like it originally did or contain the relevant data and formatting that it originally possessed.